Republic of the Philippines Supreme Court Office of the Court Administrator Manila OCA CIRCULAR NO, 24-2022 TO: ALL CONCERNED JUDGES, COURT PERSONNEL AND COURT USERS OF THE FIRST AND SECOND LEVEL COURTS IN AREAS PLACED UNDER ALERT LEVELS 2 AND 3 PER IATF RESOLUTION NO. 159-A SUBJECT: COURT OPERATIONS FROM 2 TO 15 FEBRUARY 2022 Pursuant to the authority granted by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, and as the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) issued IATF Resolution No. 159-A dated 29 January 2022 placing provinces, highly urbanized cities (HUCs), and independent component cities (ICCs) under their respective Alert Levels 2 and 3 effective 01 February 2022 until 15 February 2022, court operations in the concerned areas from 2 to 15 February 2022 (1 February 2022 is excluded being a special non-working holiday) shall be governed by the applicable provisions of OCA Circular No. 134-2021 dated 5 November 2021, as amended by OCA Circular No, 146-2021 dated 29 November 2021, as follows AREAS UNDER ALERT LEVEL 2 ‘National Capital Region Region 2: Batanes, Region 3: Bulacan Region 4A: Cavite, Rizal Region 8: Biliran, Southern Leyte BARMM: Basilan COURT OPERATIONS GUIDELINES (Alert Level 2) Court and judicial offices shall be PHYSICALLY OPEN faa Maintain a workforce of at least 75% to at most 100%, to enable the courts/judicial offices to address matters and concerns, as far as practicable ‘ Judges may continue to conduct videoconferencing hearings in cases that do not require in-court appearances. However, in-court attendance shall still be limited to lawyers, parties and witnesses required to participate in-court, a Regular office hours as prescribed in OCA Circular No. 09-2015 dated 21 January 20 5 shall be observed, i.e., Monday to Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (for Judicial Regions 1 to 12) and 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. (for National Capital Judicial Region) | | O For Saturday Duty, per Admin. Circular No. 02-2007 dated 12 January 2007, maintain a skeleton workforce of at least 50% to at most 75% For Judges without court space or facilities of their own, but they already have their ov personnel, maintain a skeleton workforce of at least 50% to at most 75% Judges may continue to conduct Video Conferencing Hearings in their courtroom pursuant to Section I (B) (1) of A.M. No, 20-12-01-SC dated 09 December 20::0 (Guidelines on the Conduct of Videoconferencing)OCA Circular (Re: Court Operations from 2 to 15 February 2022 COURT OPERATIONS GUIDELINES (Alert Level 2) — cont. _ DF Pleadings, motions and other court submissions may likewise be filed or serv registered mail, through the services of duly accredited private couriers, or by transmi them through electronic mail in accordance with the existing electronic filing guidelines, regardless of the Alert Level or Community Quarantine classification 1 The period for filing and service of pleadings and other court submissions shall no longer | be suspended, regardless of the Alert Level or Community Quarantine Classification, since the same may be done electronicall In case an area is placed under a conflicting Alert Level System and Community Quarantine Classification, as categorized herein, the more restrictive court operation as provided in the Alert Level System or Community Quarantine Classification shall prevail TD Night courts are not yet allowed in all Alert Levels or Community Quarantire classifications ALERT LEVEL 3 REGION PROVINCE/CITY LUZON Cordillera Administrative | Abra, Apayao, Baguio City, Benguet, Region (CAR) Kalinga and Mountain Province Region 1 Dagupan City, Ilocos Norte, locos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan Region 2 City of Santiago, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino Region 3 ‘Angeles City, Aurora, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Olongapo City, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales Region 44 Batangas, Laguna, Lucena City and Quezon Province Region 4B Marinduque, Romblon, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro and Puerto Princesa Cit Region 5 ‘Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate, Naga City and Sorsogon VISAYAS Region 6 Aklan, Antique, Bacolod City, Capiz, Iloilo City, Iloilo, Negros Occidental and seat Guimaras ms Region 7 Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental and Siquijor Region 8 Ormoe City, Tacloban City, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northem Samar and Western Samar MINDANAO’ Region 9 ity of Isabela, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay Region 10 Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro City, Iligan City, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental and Misamis OrientalOCA Circular (Re: Court Operations from 2 to 15 February 2022 ALERT LEVEL 3 cont. MINDANAO. Region 11 Davao City, Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and Davao de Oro Region 12 General Santos City, North Cotabato, Sarangani, South Cotabato and Sultan : Kudarat Region 13 (CARAGA) Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur and Butuan City BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous | Maguindanao, Cotabato City and Lanao Region in Muslim Mindanao) del Sur COURT OPERATIONS GUIDELINES (Alert Level 3) O Court and judicial offices are PHYSICALLY OPEN Ty O Maintain a skeleton workforce of at least 50% to at most 75%, to enable tae courts/judicial offices to address matters and concerns, as far as practicable © Judges shall maximize videoconferencing hearings and refrain from requiring parties to appear in-court, except in urgent matters and in other matters as they may determine. In-court attendance shall be limited to lawyers, parties, and witnesses required to participate in-court GF Regular office hours as prescribed in OCA Circular No. 09-2015 dated 21 January 2015 shall be observed, i.e., Monday to Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (for Judicial Regions 1 to 12) and 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. (for National Capital Judicial Region) O For Saturday Duty, pursuant to Admin. Circular No. 02-2007 dated 12 January 20¢7, maintain a skeleton workforce of at least 30% to at most 50% For Judges without court space or facilities of their own, but they already have their own personnel, maintain a skeleton workforce of at least 30% to 50% O Pleadings, motions and other court submissions may likewise be filed or served by registered mail, through the services of duly accredited private couriers, or by transmitting them through electronic mail in accordance with the existing electronic filing guidelincs, regardless of the Alert Level or Community Quarantine classification © The period for filing and service of pleadings and other court submissions shall no longer be suspended, regardless of the Alert Level or Community Quarantine Classification, since the same may be done electronically | | G In case an area is placed under a conflicting Alert Level System and Communiiy Quarantine Classification, as categorized herein, the more restrictive court operation 18 provided in the Alert Level System or Community Quarantine Classification shall prevai Night courts are not yet allowed in all Alert Levels or Community Quarantine classifications Accordingly, the guidelines enumerated in OCA Circular No. 05-2022A dated 16 January 2022, as well as other issuances of the Court or the OCA, that are not consistent herewith, will no longer be applicable to the subject courts, Further, and unless otherwise directed, only the courts and judicial offices in areas listed in OCA Circular No. 23-2022 dated 27 January 2022 shall remain physically closed until 15 February 2022 and their court operations shall be governed by OCA Circular No. 05-2022A.OCA Circular (Re: Court Operations from 2 to 15 February 2022 In the event that there are pressing concerns that the Judges or court personnel may have regarding their operations until 15 February 2022, the same should be referred to the Office of the Court Administrator for appropriate a For the strict compliance and observan; 31 January 2022 ity Court Administrator ‘OCA Officer-in-Charge Order No. 108-2021 dated 17 November 2021) (OCcACirecourteperations(alerlvels2&jan2022